Fastest screen / shelter hedge

[Steve Bullman]

So if I let Leyland get too big you can't knock it back as well?

 

You can hit the tops hard but not the sides. Laurel you can cut down to bare 2 ft stumps and grow a new hedge again if required.

[Ruskins Trees]

Fastest growing = the happiest, if it is unhappy at best it will stand still, at worst go into terminal decline.

 

Ensure you chose the right species for the location/soil/drainage. It has to be good quality stock, planted correctly and with aftercare, primarily watering for upto 5 years (BS8545:2014).

 

It would be good if you could ensure it suits the locality.

 

Decide if want deciduous or evergreen (include Beech in all year round screen, if you trim it annually and accept 80% leaf retention in winter).

 

With regard to Leylandii, if you have reasonable soil and are prepared to trim lateral and (when it gets to the height you need) vertical growth every 12-18months, it is the cheapest evergreen by far. It is a dense, if monochrome screen. Thuja is more expensive (but slightly slower growing).

 

Also we can plant Leylandii at 9-10 metres, there are no other options at this size with the same density of foliage. Many clients are happy to have the Leylandii planted due to cost compared to other options and have reconciled themselves with the annual cost of management and monochrome nature, especially at heights over 4 metres.

 

I would love to plant Lawson conifer varieties but these are not commercially grown at large sizes.

[peatff]

So if I let Leyland get too big you can't knock it back as well?

 

After it gets so big nothing grows at the bottom then it looks like a row of trees too close together.

[R Mac]

Thuya is good but slower growing.

I'd have preffered to plant hornbeam as the property would be largely unoccupied during the Winter.

 

Ty

 

Just been comparing them on the RHS website and yeah the Leylandii seems to grow twice as quickly. Of course would you rather say you had planted Western Red Cedar or Leyland Cypress

[codlasher]

Folk think a hedge will get going well when they simply bish, bash, bosh one in. Fair enough some like landii will do well in this situation but a well planted 'other' like hornbeam, beech/holly underplant. Note how these never loose their leaves. Similar good old mixed hedging will do just as well, provide food & shelter for all manner of wild birds, AND outlast all the evergreen types if there's ever a drought. Thuja is fine but laurel is a perfect habitat for flies hence I've never planted one. (old fashioned warning!)

codlasher

[dumper]

Try arundo donax 4 m tall really fast easy to grub out

[HertsWood]

PracBrown Instant hedge - it's grown in lined trenches & they lift it in 2.5m sections with an established rootzone. They can plant 50 linear meters a day. It's not cheap but they grow I the nursery for density not height, so you get hornbeam, beech, laurel that's 2m high & 0.5m wide instantly.

[spandit]

+1 for bamboo - it's biologically height limited and evergreen. Useful canes too. Ours grows about 8 feet in 6 months after being cut to the ground

[Burgess]

What do you do about all the shoots that grow from the roots?

[spandit]

What do you do about all the shoots that grow from the roots?

 

Poetry hour?

 

I let the neighbours worry about that

 

The ones in my garden at the moment (2 clumps) don't seem to spread into the lawn - maybe they were planted with a barrier? I need to cover about 50m of industrial fencing so need to dig some up to propagate anyway